The Renaissance Unchained, BBC 4, 9pm, 15 Feb.

[DublinJimbo]

Completely agree with this.

The beaver was scuttling about even more than usual during last night's visit to Venice, with low camera angles of his loping tread though the passageways and across the bridges of that labarinthine cityscape. He managed to scuttle between the five plague churches in a twitch of his snout.

What a glorious breath of fresh air this series is turning out to be. Bravo!

[Serial_Apologist]

What a glorious breath of fresh air this series is turning out to be. Bravo!

And who would have thought there was any eroticism in Viennese art of the Renaissance before watching that?

[Keraulophone]

Viennese?

[Serial_Apologist]

Viennese?

Venetian - apologies!

[gurnemanz]

In Giorgione's Tempest he explained the lightning, but what about the bird on the roof? Having mentioned, it he did not elucidate further.

[ardcarp]

He managed to scuttle between the five plague churches in a twitch of his snout.

I'm enjoying WJ's insights and verbal presentation very much. But I'm not a great admirer of the scuttling; nor indeed of the panting up and down steps which seems somehow unnecessary given that the Works of Art have stayed put for centuries and are unlikely to disappear if he doesn't get there in time.

[gurnemanz]

I suppose you could see his splay-footed linking waddles as something like the promenades in Pictures at an Exhibition.

[mangerton]

In Giorgione's Tempest he explained the lightning, but what about the bird on the roof? Having mentioned, it he did not elucidate further.

He said it was the stork which delivered the baby.

[gurnemanz]

Rather obvious, I suppose.

[ardcarp]

I suppose you could see his splay-footed linking waddles as something like the promenades in Pictures at an Exhibition.

[Richard Tarleton]

He said it was the stork which delivered the baby.

Yes the outline is about right for stork, plus the rooftop placing, tho' it would have helped with interpretation if Giorgione had put a dab of black on it. Still, realistic bird painting lay some time in the future

[Anna]

If I had such a flat footed waddle I don't think I'd want it recorded on camera but I'm enjoying this series so much I wish every episode was two hours long, it's absolutely fascinating, I want more of WJ.

[Keraulophone]

The production company, ZCZ Films, has a fb page where links can be found, e.g. to these five minutes on what the Beaver considers the greatest painting of the 15th century, Rogier van der Weyden's The Descent from the Cross:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03j73sg/player

https://www.facebook.com/zczfilms/timeline

(Reference to "Bridge of the Tits" never appeared in Kenneth Clarke's Civilisation, did it?)

[Anna]

On the subject of Giorgione but unfortunately only of interest to those who live in or who can get to London easily, just been reading the preview of exhibition at the Royal Academy entitled In the Age of Giorgione which has attracted some amazing loans including more than a third of the 40 odd paintings that are (often controversially) attributed to Giorgione. According to the preview "the experimental exhibition offers a hall of mirrors. It seeks fleeting reflections of an all-but phantasmagoric master in the works of the many followers who were influenced by him. Among these are not only some of the greatest names - Titian, Lorenzo Lotto and Sebastiano del Piombo - but also little -known figures such as Giovanni Cariani, who will prove an exciting new discovery for many." (March 12-June 5)

[Richard Tarleton]

Garden of Earthly Delights tonight!